Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a press-in pin with an elastic, cross sectionally bow-shaped press-in region for a solder-free, mechanical and/or electrical connection in a bore of a plate-shaped substrate, in particular for producing a solder-free connection with a metallized or through contacted bore of a printed circuit board.
Many embodiments of such press-in pins are known with elastic press-in zones of different cross sectional shapes, such as in so-called letter press-in technology with elastic press-in zones having cross sections that are, for example, C, H, S, or Z-shaped. With press-in pins having an elastic, cross sectionally bow-shaped press-in region, the cross sections are arc-shaped, sickle-shaped, or C-shaped. A press-in pin that has become known by the name "C-Press", which was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,017,143, has an elastic, cross sectionally C-shaped press-in zone that is consequently to a large extent adapted to a connection hole and produces as large as possible a contact area of both parts, since the press-in zone contacts the wall of the connection hole over its entire length and entire outer periphery. The C-press pin requires relatively low press-in forces and with multiple pressings into the same hole, can be exchanged more often than other pins. Furthermore, C-press-in pins are also known, which only contact the wall of the connection hole at three points, i.e. at the apex and at the two ends of the bow (Tri-C-Flex press-in pins).
With press-in pins that have an elastic press-in zone, a plastic, permanent deformation of the press-in region is also produced in addition to the elastic deformation. Flexible press-in pins, i.e. press-in pins with an elastic press-in region, can in fact fundamentally be plugged into the same hole several times, but it has turned out that the elasticity behavior changes, i.e. the elastic component decreases more and more and the press-in region is increasingly plastically deformed. As a result, the reliability of the press-in connection is impaired and the possibility of multiple press-ins is sharply limited.